Friends Don't Let Friends Get Shot
by A True Criminal Mind
Summary: So, this is how I would have ended L.D.S.K. Much more dramatic...I LOVE REID!
1. Guns, Blood, and Good Freinds

Hello everyone on FanFiction =) This is my very first story I'm posting so please leave me some feed back...

This is basicly an alternate ending to the Criminal Minds episode L.D.S.K.

Enjoy...

* * *

Click, click. Aim, aim. Bang bang. Two clicks, two aims, two bangs. One shot fatal, one almost.

Hotchheard both fires and looked down to his faithful Reid. Reid looked up at him, tears rolling down his face, his hand pressed tightly to his now bleeding stomach.

"R-Reid, you're going to be O.K...Do you hear me?" Hotch asked in an unusually un-forceful and un-demanding tone. This voice was different. This was his home voice. When he talks to his son or wife, with a more calming voice.

"H-H-H," Reid couldn't speak, all that came out was the studder, OH the horrible studder that frustrated and flustered him ever since he was a child.

"Reid, stay with me O.K.. They have to clear the area and give the word before we can get you and the hostages out, that should only take about," Hotch paused and looked at Reid's tortured face,

"10-15 minutes," Hotch finished a little quieter. Sometimes Hotch wished Reid wouldn't have stopped doing drugs, just so he could give Reid something to help calm him down or numb the pain. The young doctor started to panic, flail around, scream and cry, breathe in erratic bursts of pain and frustration. All Hotch could do was wait and try to pin Reid down the the floor.

"R-R-Ried, Y-Y," Hotch could barely talk, Reids blood covered his arms and hands as he tried to hold him down and stop the bleeding. Reid wasn't very strong, and Hotch could feel him getting weaker, his breathing become labored, his chest sinking and rising harder and slower every second they sat there.

"Reid, you have to stay with me O.K.. The team needs you, you just have to hold on O.K.," It was hard for Hotch to speak to his small, broken friend. He knew what had to be done, but he wasn't sure if he had the heart to. That bullet needed to come out and it needed to come out right now. That would pull it out of his lung to ease his breathing and the pain would probably shock him into a panic, which was better than his drowsy state now.

"R-Reid? I need you to hold nice and still alright? This might sting a little bit but it will help you breathe," Hotch said quietly as if he were talking to a wounded puppy. Reid looked up at Hotch, he could barely breathe let alone talk. Suddenly, he felt a ton of pressure on his torso and an extremely sharp pain that caused him to scream long and loud. Moving peoples' shattered ribs around so they could breathe was not for the faint of heart...

Morgan, Elle, Giddion and JJwaited silently outside of the locked down hospital wing. Then they heard it, no, not it, he. Reid. Screaming and crying, and, of all things cussing at Hotch, Yelling "G-G-Get o-off" and "What-t-t d-di-d you d-do th-a-at for?" and "I-I-I-I H-HATE Y-Y-YO-U" Theydecided it was time to forget protocal and go get their little know-it-all.

They stormed through the doors to find Reid, crying on the ground, and Hotch sitting on his legs pressing down forcefully on his abdomen.

"Reid! You alright kid?" Morgan asked running over, but Hotch didn't have to answer. As he got closer he cloud see blood covering Reid, Hotch, and the floor.

"MEDIC! We need a medic over here please!" Morgan shouted.

"H-H-H-ot-t-tch, y-you l-l-loo-k h-ha-z-z-ey..." Reid forced out quietly.

"Just hold on Reid, they're going to take care of you," Hotch replied as the medics hauled him away.

_AUG. 12: Waking up..._

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU COULD LET SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN TO MY SWEET BABY BOY!!!!" A woman's voice echoed down the quiet ICU hallways.

"Mrs. Reid I assure you it was a complete accident," Hotch said in a frustrated voice.

"I knew he should have never been and iron worker!" She shouted.

"Mrs. Reid? He was shot by a serial killer..."Hotch sighed.

"M-m-m-mo-momm-y-y?"

"SPENCER!!!" There she was, his mom, waiting to great him by his bedside. She kissed his head and stroked his wild hair.

"OH Spencer please don't tell me that studder has come back again?" She wailed kissing him more.

"Again?" Hotch laughed quietly as he stepped into the room. Reid looked bad, no, worse than bad. Outright horrid.

"Mrs.? Why don't you let him rest a while, we have to re-bandage him anyway," A female nurse said sweetly.

"I'll be back tomorrow sweet pea I sware!" She said kissing his forehead yet again.

_AUG. 18: Home Sweet Home?_

Reid was wheeled out to the oh so familiar BAU black car and loaded into the backseat. Hotchwas driving, Garcia was shotgun, and Morgan and Giddion sat on either side of Reid who was safely snuggled in the middle. After Hotch dropped everyone but Reid at the office, he _was_going to drive Reid home. He fell asleep in the backseat only to awake in a house that was not his. He was on a bed and Hotch was reading a book at his feet.

"H-H-Hotch, where am I-I-I?" He asked dazed and confused.

"Actually, your in my spare bedroom," Hotch replied without looking up from his book.

"And before you ask why, Its because the doctor said you shouldn't stay alone while you're healing, and you live alone and have no one to stay with, while here my wife will be home withthe baby while I'm at work so you'll be with someone 24-7,"Hotch said looking at Reid's tired eyes. He could tell Reid was in no condition to argue, so he just nodded his head and nodded off.

* * *

I know, kinda lame but its my first sooo, yea....

Please tell me what you think, good or bad =)


	2. The Call

_A True Criminal Mind: _

_Hi people, just a few things I wanted to say before Chapter 2: _

_Sorry for the inaccuracy, I totally forgot Reid wasn't having the drug issues yet. I guess I was just wrapped up in the moment and not really thinking. _

_Also, thank you for the feed back! I really enjoy hearing what you have to say!_

_And one more thing, I'm not the only one who thinks Reid looks super cute in his nerdy glasses right? Just checking…And is Reid 23 or 24 in LDSK, I thought it was before his birthday…_

_Anyway, on with the story! P.S. This one kind of gets into Hotch and Reid's first case more…_

"Hocth, this is your wife, you need to call me back as soon as possible!"

Hotch was frightened by the message left on his cell phone last night.

The team was currently finishing up a case in New York City. It was a pretty quick one, and Hotch was surtin that his wife would be fine at home with Jack and Rid for a few days.

After finishing his morning coffee, he dialed his home phone number and awaited his happy wife's voice, but the greeting was far from happy.

"Aaron Hotchner."

Oh no…

"Yes my sweet-"

"-Don't even start that with me!"

Oh no…What did I do now…

"Your little friend, coworker, thing, is driving me insane!" She yelled into the phone, practically making Hotch's ear bleed.

Oh no oh no oh no! Reid?! Stupid, smart little-

"He has read every book in this entire house, even the pregnancy and baby names books we got before we had Jack!"

She is angry about book…Good, that was close, now where's my other sock?

"And really Aaron, it's not him reading everything that bothers,"

Uhg, now what? Did Reid do some kind of wild experiment or some "Physics Magic" or something that burned down the house? Where is that stupid sock!? Hotch though as he look all around his hotel room, starting to get a headache.

"Aaron?"

"Yes?"

"Are you even listening to me?" She said quieter, in an almost sweet tone of voice.

"Yes," He sighed in reply.

"I don't mind having Spencer stay here, I understand that he doesn't have anyone else to stay with,"

Here it comes…WHERE IS THAT SOCK!?!?

"The problem is at night," She paused, waiting for a response.

At night? What does he do, sleepwalk?

"He's always talking in his sleep, and well,"

Talking? Really? You called me at six in the morning to tell me my coworker is talking in his sleep? OK forget the sock! I'll just get another pair…

"It's what he's talking about really,"

Dead bodies, gore, crazy people with whistles maybe? Wait, why would a psycho have a whistle, uh, whatever, now where is that stupid Tylenol?

"Aaron?"

"Yes?"

"Do you really think that a 23 year old boy should actually be doing this job?"

Silence. Hotch really did not want to answer that. He knew that Reid was a huge help to the team, and that Reid loved his job, Hocth had never seen Reid get shaken by the job, only once…

_4 Years ago…_

"_Hi detective, I'm SSA Aaron Hocthner, this is SSA Derek Morgan, and this is our newest agent Dr. Spencer Reid."_

4 years ago, the team set off to North Carolina to find 3 missing boys, and their tormentor. 3 bodies had been found already, in bad condition, there were signs of heavy physical abuse and some sexual abuse. Morgan went to set up and the headquarters, while Hotch took his newest and most enthusiastic agent to his very first crime scene. 

"_Ok, Reid, what patterns do you see here?" Hotch knew that Reid already had something._

"_Well, he's go specific victims, slightly taller than average males, ranging from age 19 to 24, he also seems to go for males who have brown hair and eyes, who are also slightly skinnier than the average weight of a 21 year old male." He stated flatly._

"_Also, it looks like there were no defensive wounds, he did want to go with the UnSub,"_

Bingo kid. Hotch thought to himself.

_After days of searching and building a profile, they finally had something. A white female, around the age of 25 or 32, who was very beautiful (To lore her victims were ever she wanted them), who had a grudge against men, maybe she was abused as a child, but she wasn't someone who would fit in very well, she is was always overdressed for an occasion as simple as grocery shopping._

_After Hotch and Morgan gave the local police the profile, every one left everyone except for Hotch, Morgan and Reid._

"_We should head back to the hotel, get some rest before tomorrow when we interview the families again," Hotch said, yawning at the end of his sentence. _

"_You're actually tiered?" Reid gasped, as if not realizing he was the only one who had drank 4 cups of coffee loaded with sugar in the past hour and a half._

"_Yes, Doctor, we're tiered," Morgan said while ruffling Reid's already messy hair._

"_Well, I'm kind of hungry," He said shyly, as if not wanting to be a burden. He hated pushing people's buttons; it just wasn't something he liked to do._

_Without a word, Hotch tossed the keys to one of the cars to Reid._

"_Knock yourself out kid, and look out for hookers, it __is__ one in the morning," Morgan laughed._

_Reid drove for what felt like hours, there had to be something open in this tiny town right?_

_Finally, he saw a run-down little bar, with a big glowing open sign. It was the only open sign for miles, and Reid was starting to get angered by his loud stomach. So, he pulled into the dark parking lot and got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him, he walked into the dimly lit bar and grill._

_It was a bit run down, but he didn't care, he was just happy that there was a place he could get food from at 1:30 AM on a Wednesday night. _

_Reid put on his glasses and looked around, there was only two other people there._

_In the corner was an older gentleman, who had four empty beer mugs on the table, he was passed out in the small corner booth. Then there was another girl there, alone._

_She had medium length chocolate colored hair that was almost complete pulled up into a spiky bun with a clip. She had a perfect figure, and Reid felt his cheeks get hot as she looked up from her laptop at him; apparently he had been standing in the door way starring at her for about 4 minutes._

"_Over here honey!" A waitress beckoned. _

_Finally, Reid looked away from the amazing girl in the booth and walked over to the clean booth that she was standing by._

"_What'll ya have honey?" The woman asked as he sat down._

"_Um, I'll just start with coffee please," He smiled politely. Should he be drinking coffee his late? No. Did he really care? Nope._

_As he looked over the menu, he heard a giggle come from behind him. It was the brown haired girl in her booth with her laptop that she was typing away on._

_A few minutes later the woman returned from the kitchen with a cup of steaming hot coffee._

"_So honey, you know what you're getting' or do you need a few minutes?" She asked, stepping a little too close to Reid._

_Now that his personal space bubble was broken, he was really freaked out._

"_I-I, I'll need a minute." He final managed to say._

"_You know, it doesn't take a profiler to tell that see likes you," A voice giggled._

_Reid looked up from the menu, to see the beautiful brown haired girl standing by his booth now._

"_I, um, how, how did you know I was a profiler?" He said, trying to figure out how she knew that._

"_About a year ago, you lectured about serial arsonists at Harvard. I was there, in the front row," She said as a sly smile creped across her pale face._

"_Oh yes, I remember!" He exclaimed a wee bit too loud._

_She giggled quietly._

"_May I join you?" She asked now smiling bigger._

"_Oh yes of course!" Reid said while fumbling with the menu._

_As she sat down, Reid watched her closely. She was so beautiful. Why on earth did she want to by me? He thought confused._

"_I know you work for the FBI also because I do as well," She stated once comfortable in the booth._

"_You do?!" Again, too much enthusiasm._

"_Yes, I work with the FBI's CAC unit,"_

"_Crimes against Children Unit," Reid replied with a grin._

"_Bingo," she laughed._

"_I tried to get into the BAU, but the unit chief turned me down, I believe his name was, Aaron, Aaron Hotchner," she said sourly._

"_He's my boss," Reid said shyly, looking at her pale blue eyes._

"_I see, by the way, my name it Katherine, Katherine Sindal. It's nice to meet you in person," _

"_I'm, Reid, Doctor Spencer Reid, but, you don't have to call me doctor," He said sweetly._

_They stayed at the bar late, talking about the FBI, physic, Startrek and math. It was like two of the world's biggest nerds had just connected._

"Aaron? Are you actually there?"

Back into the real world, Aaron sighed.

"Yes, I'm actually here."

_A True Criminal Mind:_

_Well, that's it so far, please review…And do I smell romance in the air, do I?!_

_Also, I really wish there was a Spencer Reid plushie...Heh; I had to make a comment about Frank's crazy love._


	3. I was hit by a car!

_Sorry about the spelling errors, I get so into the stories I forget to spell check, I'm just so…Rapped up in the moment, but I'm sure a lot of you understand that. Anyway, I have an issue, when I spell check on Fanfic, it always changes my quotation marks to for some reason…If someone could help, that would be great =)_

_-A True Criminal Mind_

Hotch dozed off on the plane home. He wondered more about that night Reid always talked about. He always said how much he had in common with Katherine, and how fun it was talking to her, but what really happen, Hotch didn't know.

All he knew was that the next day when he came back to the office to help more with the case, he was acting jumpy.

_Hotch noticed Reid talking on his phone._

"_Reid, a moment please?"_

Reid hung up unusually fast and ran over to where Hotch was sitting. 

"_Yes?" He asked, sitting down across from Hotch._

"_What's wrong, I know we haven't known each other long but I can tell something's wrong," Hotch stated flatly._

"_And how do you know that?" Reid retaliated defensively._

"_Who were you talking to on the phone?"_

"_Family,"_

"_Why are you favoring your upper right torso?"_

"_I was hit by a car!" _

_Reid may be a genius, but he was the worst liar Hotch had ever met._

"_Reid, if you were hit by a car I think you would be a little bit more injured."_

"_Reid was hit by a car?!" Morgan asked in disbelief as he walked into the police station._

"_Yes!" Reid wailed_

"_No!" Hotch said after him._

_Morgan just stood there, looking from Hotch to Reid._

"_Uh, I need coffee," Morgan said as he walked away rubbing his temples._

"_Reid, do you know something about the case and you're not telling me?" Hotch asked as if speaking to a child who had stolen cookies before dinner._

"_NO! Of course not!" Reid was applaud that Hotch would think such a thing._

"_Reid?"_

"_If you were wondering who I was talking to, her name is Katherine. We met last night at a bar." He said crossing his arms as if pouting._

"_Oh really, a girl who works at the CAC just called earlier for you."_

"_She did?" _

"_Yup, she said that she was sorry about what happened last night."_

"_How does she know?!" Reid gasped._

"_Know what Reid?" Hotch asked frustrated._

"_N-Nothing," Reid said quietly._

_Hotch pulled out the case file and laid out all of the photos of the dead, beaten bodies._

_Reid starred at them, he look absolutely disgusted, as if he was going to vomit right on the table._

"_You've seen the actually bodies and didn't flinch, now all of the sudden you see the pictures and you're mortified? Reid, what happened last night?!" Hotch was now almost yelling._

_Tears welled up in Reid dark eyes, as they rolled down his hot cheeks he looked up at Hotch._

"_I went to Katherine's house last night after the bar," He said quietly, voice and hands shaking._

"_And?" Hotch pressed just as loud and forceful as before._

"_All I can tell you is that you're never going to find the bodies, and that the murders and abductions will stop," Reid choked, now starting to feel as if he was about to fall apart in the chair._

_Hotch could see the young doctor shaking in the chair._

"_Reid,"_

_Before Hotch could say anything else, Reid stormed out. Hotch didn't see him for two weeks, until the next case was established. Hotch was going to fire him, but he didn't have the heart to. Reid was such a brilliant kid, and with a little more field experience, he would make the perfect profiler._

"Hotch? Hotch!" JJ said while lightly shaking his shoulder.

Hotch shocked awake.

"We just landed," She said with a smile.

After that, Hotch went straight home. After talking to his wife for a while and tucking in Jack, he went up to the spare room that Reid was in.

He opened the door slowly and walked in. Reid was on the bed, surrounded by books.

"Yeah?" He asked marking his page with his finger.

"We need to talk,"

"About…"

"You. What happened four years ago, on your first case?

Reid sighed, he knew this was coming.

"It's a long story,"

"_I WAS HIT BY A CAR!!!" I've used that and…Needless to say, it didn't work. _

_-A True Criminal Mind_


	4. Painful Memories

_Okeydokie, here's chapter 4 =) Thank you all so very much for the reviews, advice and help. I know this story is weird, but this chapter really pulls it all back together. Special thanks to __the-vampire-act__ for all of the enthusiasm. And thank you to everyone else who has reviewed, favorite, and followed this story…Maybe I'll keep writing other fanfic stories!_

_-A True Criminal Mind_

Reid looked up at Hotch with the biggest and saddest puppy dog eyes he could come up with.

"Reid, you need to tell me what happened. I've never seen you get so flustered about anything in any case," Hotch pressed.

"Look, it was my first case, and-"

"Reid, you weren't favoring your side, crying and having problems seeing dead bodies just because you were 'hit by a car'"

Reid looked away, avoiding Hotch's stare.

"It's a long story,"

"Reid, we never caught that woman, and she never did anything like that again, what happened when you were with Katherine."

Reid looked back up at him, scared to tell him the truth.

"Reid, you can trust me, you know that right?"

"It was a long time ago,"

"Don't pull that 'I don't remember' garbage with me Reid. You have the best memory."

"Fine," Reid sighed, casting his gaze out the window into the pale night.

"_Wow! I can't believe that you guys actually go and see the dead people, that would creep me out, give me nightmares too I bet!" Katherine laughed._

"_Yeah, it's a little creepy, but Hotch said I'd get used to it," Reid said shyly._

_They were both quiet for a minute, just starring at each other. Finally Katherine broke the silence._

"_Hey, why don't we head back to my place," She said smiling, "Maybe we can get something to eat after we get there, the food here isn't all that great," She whispered, getting a little too close for comfort._

"_O-Ok!" Reid said as he leapt out of his seat._

_They headed back to her condo in separate cars, so that Reid could drive home later. _

"_Nice condo," He smiled politely as he walked in._

"_Thanks, my older sister lives here with me, she never comes down from her room thought, she's a bit of a wacko."_

_Oh, a wacko, that's great…Reid thought feeling a smile creep across his face._

"_Make yourself at home, I'm just gonna run up town for a minute, grab a pizza and some beer," She smiled handing him the TV remote._

"_Um, ok then,"_

_She left._

_The house was dead silent._

_Reid pulled out a book from his messenger bag, sat down, and began to read._

_After about 5 minutes, he heard a door close upstairs, and footsteps coming down the wood floored steps._

"_Well well well, what do we have here?" A woman said as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She was beautiful, just like her little sister. _

"_Uh, your sister just left to get some pizza, I'm her friend Spencer," He announced in an awkward fashion._

"_OK, well, I'll let you get back to your reading then," She said walking into the kitchen._

_For some reason, as Reid sat back down, he felt the little hairs on the back of his neck stand up as a chill flew down his spine._

_Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck and he heard something shatter. Darkness consumed him as he felt himself hit the ground._

_Reid awoke, tied to an icy cold, thick metal pole. His shirt was missing and his belt was gone. His hands were tied above him, and his feet, to the bars on the floor._

_He tried to move, but the back of his head was throbbing as he attempted to free himself from the darkness that closed in on him._

"_Wake up my sweet little sugar," A faint female voice whispered in his ear. _

_He felt a cold hand run down his bare chest that shocked him out of his unconscious state._

_His breathing increased greatly as he opened his eyes._

_The woman he had saw earlier, Katherine's sister, was standing right in front of him, her cold hands running up and down across his thin torso. She then began to trace his very visible ribcage with her nails softly._

"_Do you know __what__ I hate about boys like you most?" She asked._

_Her soft nails turned into painful knives as she was no longer caressing Reid, but scratching him._

"_W-What have I done?" He asked, trying not to squeal as her nails cut deeper into his skin._

"_WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" She howled in a fit of laughter, her nails now cutting even deeper._

_He winced, wined and tried to pull away._

_She heard his whimper and stopped laughing._

"_You don't like that?" She asked sweetly, wiping his blood onto her jeans._

"_N-No I don't,"_

_She stepped away and grabbed his belt that was lying on the ground._

"_Then you won't like THIS either!" She shouted as she hurled the belt back._

_Reid saw the belt coming at him in slow motion. He could almost imagine it coming in contact with his already bleeding side. It hit him, cracking against his pale smooth skin. _

_He screamed out in pain._

_Reid's blood-chilling screams weren't heard fast enough for him. At the young age of 20, he knew screaming was a dumb thing to do, that gave this mad woman what she wanted. He learned to just suck up the pain from being so brutally tortured in school. But right now, he couldn't help it._

_The pain of his cut skin on top of being whipped repeatedly on his smooth, unscathed stomach was almost unbearable._

_Almost…_

_He tried to go to another place, a happy place, a place that was safe and warm. The thought of his mother, and guilt sent another wave of different pain through his body. It had been just two years ago that he sent her off to the Sanitarium._

_Reality struck again in the form of a whip._

_His stomach was on fire. He could feel each lash cutting deeper into his skin._

_He was young, not a scar on him…until now._

_He feared for his skin, how it would look after the event._

_He feared for his mother, getting news of her son's death._

_He feared for his life._

_Finally, the awful noise stopped._

_Reid could barely see through all the tears that filled his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. As his vision cleared, he thought about Katherine._

_What was taking her so long to get pizza?!_

_He heard the door close, he was alone, left there soaked in blood, to sob in silence._

_Reid managed to look down. His stomach looked like ground hamburger and his pants were covered in blood._

_His team would know he was missing, right?_

_He hopped that they would come looking for him soon, but why would they? Reid heard them talk, it was like high school all over again. They thought he was a know-it-all annoying little brat._

_He hung there and cried, hopping she would not return._

"Reid?! Why didn't you tell me any of this? How did you get out?" Hotch was now shouting again.

Reid just sat there, in bed, hot tears rolling down his hotter face; he was embarrassed to be talking about it. He knew he was being foolish to go back to Katherine's house, but he couldn't help himself.

"Do you still have the scars?" A sweet and caring voice asked.

This voice startled him, Reid turned to see Hotch's wife leaning on the door way, her eyes welling up.

Reid felt his face getting hotter now, no doubt in his mind that it was bright red.

"Um, yes, Mrs." He said very quietly.

"Oh you poor thing!" She wailed, she sat down on his other side, and put her arm around his thin boney shoulders.

Suddenly, something hit him. It was a feeling, an odd feeling. A feeling he hadn't felt for years.

He felt wanted. He felt cared about. And he knew that he was there, cared about. _Safe._ He felt a smile creep across his beat red face.

He then sighed, knowing why they were quite. They waited for him to finish his story.


	5. Off With His Shirt, Off With His Pride

_Heeelllooooo! Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, favorite, and subscribing to this story! This is a really short chapter because I'm working on 2 other stories: one about Spencer Reid as a child, and another with a new character I've made up…Lets just say that one is full of nerdy love 3 I will still continue this one thought =)_

_Enjoy! And look for my next story called "Chocolate Kisses and Lavender Bubble Bath"._

_-A True Criminal Mind_

The room stayed silent for a while. Reid just sat on the bed, shocked by the fact that Hotch's wife Haley was listening. But he didn't mind too much now because she held him tight, her arm wrapped around his shoulders. He knew that they were willing; more wanting to listen to the rest of his traumatic experience, but neither of them was willing to push him any further than he wanted to go. And for that, he was grateful.

Haley let go of him, as she stood up she ruffled his already messy hair.

"Why don't I let you two boys talk and I'll go make some tea," Haley said with a smile.

As she left, Hotch turned his full attention back to Reid.

Hotch watched the young genius closely, seeing that he was unsure of what to say or do.

"Reid?" Hotch asked, again with his softer, less threatening tone.

Reid didn't speak; he didn't even look at Hotch. He just stared out at the pale blue night sky as tears rolled down his rosy cheeks.

"Spencer?" Hotch was even softer now, not wanting to push him officially over the edge.

Reid looked over. He could barely remember the last time Hotch used his first name because he was bleeding out on the hospital floor.

But now, he was bleeding in a whole new way. A way that he hated and wish that would go away.

"Spencer, you don't have to tell me anything else ok?" Hotch said, hoping Reid could still even hear him.

Reid heard, but he could barely respond. It felt as if he was drowning in his own misery. He didn't know why it was so painful to speak, so he did something he wished he didn't have to do. But he knew it was the only way that his older friend would understand.

Hotch watched anxiously as Reid stared at him, waiting for something, _anything_, to happen.

And then it did.

Reid stood up and took off his night shirt.

Hotch looked at him in utter horror.

His entire stomach, sides and chest were covered in scars. Lash marks and what looked like knife marks covering the young, innocent man's body.

Hotch knew that beneath those hideous scars, there was no man. Only the heart of a young tortured soul, _a child_, screaming of insecurity and pure fear.

Fear of being hurt.

Fear of being left alone.

Fear of losing something dear.

Fear of being judged.

Fear of being mocked and teased.

Fear of his own mind.

Reid carefully slipped back into his night shirt, trying not to aggravate his healing wounds from the previous case.

Hotch stood up as Reid sat down.

"Get some rest," Hotch said as he walked out of the room.

_Yes, you will get to find out how Reid escaped from the crazy chick's grasp =P_

_Well, tell me your thoughts please!_

_-A True Criminal Mind_


	6. Story and Author Update: HELP!

Ok…so…I'm really at a loss of where to go with this story. I am terrible sorry to say this- to me it's almost as painful as admitting to defeat- but I am just not sure what the heck to do with this story. If any of you have ideas, please feel free to personal message me or leave a review.

Again, so sorry that I haven't updated in a while; I NEED IDEAS! I will continue my story _Chocolate Kisses and Lavender Bubble Bath, _but I think I'll leave _Reid My Mind _and_In The Cold Rain, I Stand Alone and Fight_as one-shots- even though I got remarkable feedback on both.

Also, (if you're interested) I am going to right a Lord of the Rings/Legolas story. That should be done in a few weeks. I'm also starting my own new BAU chat room (that seems to be all the rage these days).

Thank you, all my readers for the wondrous, inspiring and positive reviews. I love your constructive criticism and hope that you guys can help me out with an idea that would be lovely.

Thanks again,

Nymp- A True Criminal Mind


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